Timpanogos is still so far away...

I have toned up enough and lost enough weight that people are starting to comment and ask questions. I kind of hate that. Despite publishing all of my secrets through blogs on the internet I don't get personal with many people face to face... I feel like this weight loss and getting into shape is personal. It is about me setting right so many things in my heart and in my mind.

I am rather close with one lady that stopped me in the hall today and we chatted for a bit. (She is like my Southern Mama. My real mom is far far away but I have my Southern Mama and she looks after me. She wants to set me up with her son and  we are not close enough yet for me to tell her why that won't work...) I told her about hiking up Timpanogos this summer and what a big deal that is to me that this was my biggest motivation for getting in shape.

I don't understand why doing this, hiking this mountain again, is so crucial but it is. I wake up with images of this mountain lingering on my eyelids from my dreams. I work out pretending I can feel the Utah sun on my back and can smell the forest dirt in my nostrils. I google "Timpanogos" and read all everything that comes up after work.

I don't know why but preparing for this hike is very healing. I was a very emotional eater and I can't help but wonder if burning these stored calories is releasing the emotions I did not deal with. It is setting me from the drama of my past.

July is still so far off but I am so excited about this.

Weekly Results - Visualizing the mountain

Results:
I lost 3.6 pounds this week for a grand total of 10.8 in the last two weeks.
I walked 126,660 steps = 59.59 miles.
I am still meat free, sugar free, and gluten free.

Updates:
Front-loading the day worked. Eating more of my calories in the morning and mid-day solved my tiredness in the afternoon. I also realized I was not getting very much fat and started eating a bit of peanut butter each day and switched from skim milk to 2% milk.

This whole vegetarian thing is kind of tricky... Plus I can't eat a lot of the vegetarian meat alternatives because of the gluten in them. Because of the Celiacs Disease I don't think I will ever be able to give up dairy and eggs. It would be super challenging to get what I need.

Thoughts this week:
My mental focus has not been directly on my number of steps and amount of weight lost. I use these things to gage progress, but my mind is in the mountains. As I working out I find myself frequently imagining what it will be like to walk the trails to the top of Timpanogos. I am imagining the wild flowers, the feel of the sun, and the weight of the backpack on my back. I imagine how good it will feel to reach the summit. This is so motivating.

I live in tiny Southern town that lives up to many of the stereotypes of a tiny Southern town. Everyone is up in your business. Everywhere you go you run into people you know. So as I have started working out I have had countless people come up to me and comment that they saw me on the track or climbing the stadium steps. So we chat about the little hike I am going on this summer. Everyone is so enthusiastic about it. In the end this is going to be a great way to hold myself accountable. The town of Mayberry is watching and will want to know how the hike goes when I come back in August.

Making my fitness goal about this hike rather than strictly about numbers is going to be what keeps me going.